Posted By Becky Bisbee

The Society of American Business Editors and Writers named veteran journalist and media industry leader Warren Watson as its executive director.

Watson has been the director of J-Ideas, a journalism non-profit serving high-schoolers across the nation, since July of 2004. J-Ideas is based at Ball State University.

He was at the American Press Institute from 1998 to 2004, the last four years as a vice president and acting co-president. While there, he worked on the grant that established the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism and organized and directed the institute’s annual business journalism seminars.

Watson was president of the Society of News Design in 2003 and editor of The American Editor, the magazine of the American Society of News Editors, in 2005-06. He has more than 25 years of experience at daily newspapers, mostly as an editor.

At Ball State, Watson raised more than $1.2 million for J-Ideas, mostly from private foundations.

“SABEW is very fortunate to have recruited such an outstanding journalist and leader to help us grow the organization and support business journalism,” said SABEW President Greg McCune, training editor for Thomson Reuters. “Warren has a proven track record of developing programs that make a difference and managing them well. I see an exciting future for SABEW under his steady guidance.”

The 45-year-old society is the nation”™s largest organization of business and financial journalists, with more than 3,000 members. As executive director, Watson will work closely with McCune and SABEW’s board to expand training, grow membership, keep the society”™s website current, stay abreast of the changes sweeping through journalism and represent SABEW to other journalism organizations, newsrooms and the larger world.

Watson will move to Phoenix to oversee the society from its new headquarters at Arizona State University. SABEW is planning to move there this fall, to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism from the University of Missouri Journalism School, where it has been based since 1984.

At J-Ideas, Watson led efforts to familiarize students with journalism, awareness of First Amendment issues and news literacy initiatives through training, education and scholarships. J-Ideas has conducted more than 20 training events annually and done journalism and First Amendment seminars and programs for more than 7,500 students, teachers and administrators across the country.

Watson worked with SABEW and others to develop a curriculum DVD on business coverage for high school teachers and journalists. It was part of a six-set package of learning tools. He has done original research on First Amendment attitudes in high schools.

In his 36-year career, he has consulted for media companies and other organizations in the U.S., France, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. He has written, taught and lectured widely on journalism-related topics.

Watson has an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree in journalism from Ball State.

From 1995 to 1998, he was executive editor at the Central Maine Newspapers. For a year before that, he was acting co-editor at the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram and for the previous six years, managing editor and associate publisher at the two papers.

Prior to that, from 1986 to 1988, he was graphics editor/art director at the St. Petersburg Times. Earlier, he served as assistant sports editor and a national desk copy editor at the Times.

Before that, he was an editor at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, a reporter at the Cleveland Press, an editor at the Daily Peabody (Ma.) Times and worked for other papers in New England.

In his years at Ball State, Watson wrote 80 articles in newspapers and journalism publications, including a column since 2007 on First Amendment issues for the Indianapolis Star. He has won numerous awards for his work at J-Ideas and earlier in his career.

Watson was chosen through a national search committee process led by Josh Mills, a former SABEW governor who teaches business journalism at the City University of New York’s Baruch College.

He succeeds Dave Beal, who has been SABEW’s interim executive director since last fall.